Meet 2026's Adam Reynolds Award winner Abi Palmer

The Adam Reynolds Award and bursary is designed to support the practice of a mid-career disabled artist. Shape Arts will support Palmer’s new project I Squeezed the Sky (and the Sky Squeezed Back).

What is the ARA? Explore past recipients

The 2026 Adam Reynolds Award - Shape Arts’ flagship award for mid-career disabled artists which includes a £10k artist bursary and creative development opportunity - has been made to artist Abi Palmer. Palmer joins ARA alumni including David Johnson, Chris Laing, James Lake, Jay Price, Johanna Hedva, and Jason Wilsher-Mills in receiving the prestigious award, set up in 2008 in memory of the life and work of sculptor Adam Reynolds.

Abi Palmer will be supported in the production of a new project, I Squeezed the Sky (and the Sky Squeezed Back) throughout 2026. The new work is an exploration of barometric pressure and planetary inflammation, explored through film, sculpture, installation and choreography. Hovering between playful absurdity and reverence, I Squeezed the Sky invites audiences to reimagine the body’s porous relationship with the world at a time when climate, health, and political infrastructures are visibly under pressure.

Work in progress ‘Smoke Clouds’ from I Squeezed the Sky (and the Sky Squeezed Back), courtesy of the artist

Jeff Rowlings, Head of Programme, Shape Arts, said: “We are thrilled to make this year’s Adam Reynolds Award to Abi Palmer, an artist with a growing reputation for wielding weighty ideas and tender, sometimes harrowing stories with a light deftness that cuts through to audiences of all backgrounds and interests. 


In an age when it is so easy to be categorised, there are inherent risks in representing a distinct community, and it is to Abi’s credit that while the experience of disability and being disabled runs fiercely through her work, much like her championing of access, her work has a mercurial and multifaceted quality that takes people on journeys to the unexpected. It is organic and winding, not a single thing with a single purpose. 


We are delighted to be supporting Abi as she embarks on a significant piece of work using new media to explore ways in which nature and humanity collide and impact on each other, provoking important reflections on the relationship between our sensory lives and aspirations for the future. We very much look forward to working with Abi over the year.”

Abi Palmer, Adam Reynolds Award winner 2026, said: “I'm thrilled to receive the Adam Reynolds Award. From the very start of my career, Shape Arts have been my number one champions: I don’t think I’d have become the artist I am without their support. To be entrusted with this award is a tremendous honour.

I'm particularly excited to have the time to luxuriate in my current research on air pressure and fluid dynamics, while developing my skills in clay animation: a joyful year of squeezing!"

Left: Portrait of the artist by Robin Christian.

Visit Abi's artist profile Check out Abi's website

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